Review: 'The Middleman' - The Clotharian Contamination Protocol

It's nice to see actors and actresses from "Battlestar Galactica" getting work on the different networks. During this episode, we see Mark Sheppard (soon to appear in "The Dollhouse"), who I understand is a friend of Javier Grillo-Marxuach, the show's creator. I also hear that Sheppard was actually used as a template for Manservant Neville, the character as he appeared in the original graphic novels. It's kind of cool that he actually plays the person in the show itself.

Here's the basic plot for this week: The Middleman and Wendy recover the Voyager 2 space module, which they discover has been near the planet Clothar (last heard about in "The Boyband Superfan Interrogation"). The pair take the vessel's black box back to Middleman HQ, where a ticking device explodes, sending nanobots around the HQ, causing Ida to become evil. Ida says The Middleman and Wendy must enter the decontamination chamber, and she locks them in once they get nekkid and begin scrubbing each other.

During the process, The Middleman tells Wendy about Code 47, which is the practice of leaving a pre-recorded message to loved ones before leaving on a dangerous mission. Wendy refuses to follow the procedure, declaring that she would be a terrible friend if she had to leave a message instead of letting people know how much she cares before she leaves.

After the pair discovers Ida's deception, they contact the Clotharian homeworld and discover that the planet is upset that Earth keeps sending out devices that will turn the universe into Earth's "peep show," recording and looking at everything they come across. The indestructible nanobots in Ida's brain will spread throughout the world and plummet Earth back to the Stone Age technologically.

The Middleman plans to use the Baby HEYDAR to shrink himself to a size small enough to enter Ida's brain and turn her off, but things don't go according to plan and Wendy ends up in Ida's noggin instead.

When things look bleakest and it appears that she won't survive, Wendy begins to tell The Middleman her own Code 47, thanking him for being the closest thing to a father she's had since her own Dad disappeared. The Middleman tells Wendy to never give up, and that sparks Wendy into coming up with a plan of being covered by the indestructible nanobots when she is being returned to her regular size by MM.

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